Hi my name is Tonya. I have been wanting to enter the VA field for a long time. Unemployment has given me the opportunity to get started. So, I am in the gathering information stage (if there is such a stage), I have my home office and equipment, I even know the name of my company (which I may change). I am stuck on a few of the following, so if anyone has any answers, I would appreciate it.

1. do i have to obtain a business tax id to do business?
2. must I obtain a credit card processing company to collect funds

I had thought I could just put up a website and flyers around town. I really did not anticipate having to write a business plan, and obtain a tax id. :cool:

Welcome Tonya,
I use Paypal to collect funds for those clients that want to use a credit card (as well as money orders/business checks). I'm not sure about where you are but here we do not need a business tax id unless we make over 30K/year. I waited until I made that much before I applied and it was quick and easy. Cheers, rhonda

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Rhonda at Taskme
Taskme

Hi Rhondae, I am in Providence, RI. Paypal is excellent and simple. I will have to check further about the business ID. Thank you so much.

Hi Tonya, welcome to the community

To answer the question about payments, etc. you can accept credit cards through a PayPal business account, if that is how your clients wish to pay. But the nice thing about PayPal is that they can pay from other funding sources as well, making it a nice and easy method to offer. There is also a new system we've just heard about on the forums called the Intuit Payment Network, their fees are apparently lower than PayPal [much lower] and it is sounding like a great option as well, especially for higher-end payments where the PayPal fees would be really nuts. [Use the search feature in the main menu of the site to look up threads on both companies and see what others have to say].

For information on state and federal business tax regulations, check out the section of the forums devoted to Taxes. That's also a great place to ask your question and get more direct feedback.

Wishing you success!

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Hi I am Re'Keta from Ohio, I am just now getting back into the business after finishing up chemo so this is all like brand new again, welcome to the boards these are a wealth of info.

Re'Keta